Welcome

Gardening and farming in rural north Idaho has many joys and some challenges-- Zone 4 climate, plant predators/ visitors up to and including moose; sudden weather extremes (we get maritime weather off the Pacific and continental weather down from Alberta & BC). Specializing in herbs and fragrant plants led first to a keen interest in cooking with herbs, and then to soapmaking. Any one day's work might see fence fixing, pruning, soapmaking, gathering botanicals, oohing at the elk herd parading past.

December 21, 2010

(Still just me,) but it needed a makeover, and this will facilitate a shopping cart later on. Plus it's easier/faster to say than SoapfromParadiseGardensRarePlantNursery. And much easier to see what is there, with much simpler navigation. I only use FF and IE (as a look-see), so if anyone notices anything amiss in Opera or whatever, please let me know. There are several new soaps from this fall's soapathon, and there will be more in the coming weeks. Shipping will probably get tweaked, I'm working on streamlining that too.

Monday night, the moon disappears and turns red for a big chunk of the Northern hemisphere: Solstice Lunar Eclipse
This is the first time a total eclipse has happened on the Solstice in about 700 years. It will be visible in all of North America (weather permitting) (ah overcast Idaho...), and partially, in Atlantic Northern Europe. At the link you will find maps for that. Quoth NASA:

The eclipse begins on Tuesday morning, Dec. 21st, at 1:33 am EST (Monday, Dec. 20th, at 10:33 pm PST). At that time, Earth's shadow will appear as a dark-red bite at the edge of the lunar disk. It takes about an hour for the "bite" to expand and swallow the entire Moon. Totality commences at 02:41 am EST (11:41 pm PST) and lasts for 72 minutes.If you're planning to dash out for only one quick look -­ it is December, after all -­ choose this moment: 03:17 am EST (17 minutes past midnight PST). That's when the Moon will be in deepest shadow, displaying the most fantastic shades of coppery red.

Why red?

A quick trip to the Moon provides the answer: Imagine yourself standing on a dusty lunar plain looking up at the sky. Overhead hangs Earth, nightside down, completely hiding the sun behind it. The eclipse is underway. You might expect Earth seen in this way to be utterly dark, but it's not. The rim of the planet is on fire! As you scan your eye around Earth's circumference, you're seeing every sunrise and every sunset in the world, all of them, all at once. This incredible light beams into the heart of Earth's shadow, filling it with a coppery glow and transforming the Moon into a great red orb.